Strictly chaos - wildly unprepared stars and health fears to berating BBC bosses
As glitter litters the corridors of Elstree and celebrities frantically top up their fake tans, it can only mean one thing - Strictly Come Dancing is finally back.
But with mere hours until the pairings show airs on TV, there is a feeling of chaotic energy from bosses, celebrities and professional dancers alike as they push for the BBC's biggest show to get ready on time. Yet while some are struggling with nerves, others are having a tough time physically with the wild new moves being thrown at them.
Among those fearing that they may not be totally prepared for the gruelling Strictly schedule is EastEnders actor Bobby Brazier - Jeff Brazier's 20-year-old son with late Big Brother star Jade Goody. While insisting that he "loves to dance" and was "always going to say yes" to the show, he also admitted that he's never actually sat down to watch it.
"I’ve never watched the show, so I’ll be coming in fresh," Bobby exclaimed enthusiastically. When asked how he had prepared ahead of Strictly, he replied: "I've done absolutely nothing. These dancers are the fittest people I've ever met, they're like, robots – dancing machines! Maybe I'll start stretching a little bit. As far as dancing, my whole life has been a preparation – I'm not a trained dancer but I love to dance."
Strictly's class of 2023 (BBC Studios/Ray Burmiston)Meanwhile Angela Rippon, the show's oldest contestant this year at 79, confessed that when her agent had told her news of the offer to do Strictly, she was frustrated that they hadn't asked her a decade ago when she was younger. "When my agent rang me and said ‘Angela, they want you to do Strictly’ the first thing out of my mouth was ‘why didn’t they ask me ten years ago?!’ I shall be 79 years old in October and it’s bonkers really that I’m doing this," she quipped. "I took a long time to decide if I wanted to do it... my brain says fun...my body says ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?!’
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"When it was announced I was doing it I had so many people online saying ‘Cheers for 70-year-old dancers!’ I was in the grocery store the other day and the lady next in line, who was of a certain age, tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘can I just say that I and my friends are thrilled you’re going to Strictly... sometimes I feel people of a certain age become invisible and you’re going to make a few headlines for us.’ So I’m doing this because, if I can last a few weeks and demonstrate that it is possible in your 70s..that you can do something that keeps you fit and strong and agile, that will be brilliant."
However, she is concerned about her health due to her asthma, so has been preparing for the intense training by doing some breathwork. She explained: "I have asthma and one of my worries is that the asthma would get in the way of my breathing so I’m doing a bit of work on that. I’ve spoken to my friend who’s a dancer who said ‘you need to stop breathing through your nose and you need to breathe through your mouth!’.
Krishnan is worried about his health (BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Bobby Brazier has already been called the dark horse of the competition (BBC/Ray Burmiston)"I’ve also been trying to build up my fitness, I think I owe it to whoever I'm paired with to be as fit as I possibly can and I owe it to the audience who will tune in every week! So I need to get my fitness up, I’m supple because I do stretches every morning but I’m not necessarily fit. I play tennis and I can run around a tennis court, but I imagine that’s very different to this!"
Similarly, veteran Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, 53, says his health is his biggest fear while taking part in the show - and lost nearly two stone earlier this year prior to training.
"Everything about it [Strictly] a big challenge," he admitted candidly. "The biggest thing I am scared of, is physically not being able to do this. I am not a fit person and I have never exercised really. I am overweight and I have got loads of things wrong, so that’s been my biggest worry about whether I can actually physically do it. Then of course, there is the basic question of, can I dance? and I don’t know the answer to that, I will find out!"
Quizzed on whether he had done any preparation ahead of Strictly, he said: "To say preparing would be a massive overstatement of the truth. I have done ten days of Pilates. I have lost a lot of weight earlier this year, I went on this massive health kick in April/May and I lost about eleven kilos and so I am sure that under normal circumstances I would have put most of it back on. But, I have tried very hard to keep that weight off, so that is probably the extent of my training which was quite hard when you have been on holiday."
Angela Rippon wishes bosses had asked her to do Strictly soonerTV legend Les Dennis has a very different and surprising fear considering his theatre, musicals and panto background. "Lycra," he replied when asked what his biggest challenge would be. "Well, I'm not a trained dancer, I can pick up steps when a teacher or somebody takes me through them, but it takes me a long time. This is as we saw from speed dancing at rehearsals the other day, you've got to go quickly, but I enjoyed that because it was like ‘gotta keep up....gotta keep up’. So my biggest challenge is dancing!"
Speaking further about the costumes he may need to wear, Les said tentatively: "I'm sure the team are so good that they know, a 70-year-old man in lycra isn't necessarily the best thing to look at. So, I'm sure they will keep me dignified in a Strictly way."
Despite his concerns, Les does have a fan among his Strictly co-stars. "Les Dennis, he is an absolute hero," Eddie Kadi said. "He made my parents forget I was in trouble at some stages when he was on Family Fortunes, so I owe him a lot. But everybody else as well, it was just really nice to just see how everyone kind of just blended in like a one big family. I liked the fact that I just got to meet everyone and we all just blended."
Many stars this year may have already had dance training but, despite his wife being a dance teacher, Adam Thomas insists he's not one of them. "I said this to my wife the other day, the fact that my wife is a dance teacher, and I have never learnt how to dance just baffles me, but then she said to me that I haven’t taught her how to act either," he quipped. "Whoever I get paired up with, definitely has their work cut out because I cannot dance to save my life. I did think I could dance, but I found out that I can’t, so, that was a bit of a shock to the system."
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While celebrities have only been practising the group number together, there appears to definitely be a certain dark horse emerging, according to some. "Well, having seen a couple of them move, I think Bobby's probably one [of the dark horses] because he started learning moves, and then he was watching himself in the mirror," Paralympian Jody Cundy observed. "Every time there was a break he put his dance shoes on when we first got there when we tried them on, and he was in them the whole day. Every time you saw him, when he had five minutes, he wasn't sat down, he was doing a little Cha cha cha in the mirror and he was just watching it like absorbing everything. So, I think he's a dark horse for out and out performance."
The One Show's Angels Scanlon agreed, remarking: "Oh, I think there's a few dark horses in there. I think Bobby's going to be really good. Bobby Dazzler, the smile on him! I also think Nigel and Layton." Corrie's Ellie Leach reckons that Amanda Abbington could also be one to watch, quipping: "Amanda, is a dark horse. I know it for a fact. I was watching and I was like ‘Oh my God, you're so good’."
It's common for celebrities to claim that they're 'not even thinking about the Glitterball' and just want to 'enjoy the moment', but we all know that that isn't really the case for most. There are two celebrities who are frank about their competitiveness.
"I think the biggest challenge is that I'm very competitive and I have to keep that in check," Amanda Abbington admits honestly. "I've got to remember that you're going into it and it's a competition, but that's not the be all and end all, I need to go in and have fun and a nice time."
While Bad Education star Layton Williams, who has already been subject to fix claims due to his musical background and dance training, said when asked who his biggest competition was: "Myself, because I'm a perfectionist. I know it's a competition, I'm in my lane and everyone else is doing their own journey. So as long as I'm proud of what I've done, and I've made my pro, family and friends proud, that’s all that matters. I want to go out with dignity."
*Strictly returns on Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One
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